No Fooling Fla. State's Chuck Amato

KUNDA

December 21, 1990|by JOHN KUNDA, The Morning Call

Chuck Amato can make a case for the defense. He's been doing it for years.

From his high school football days in his hometown of Easton to his college days at North Carolina State right on through to his current job with Bobby Bowden at Florida State, Amato was one of those rock-hard guys, the ones who like to tear the stuffings out of a tackling dummy. Even threw in wrestling for good measure at Easton and N.C. State.

Amato's been coaching at Florida State for the last nine years. He's the assistant head coach, Bowden's right hand man. Amato is also in charge of the defensive line.

Florida State is Penn State's opponent next Friday night in the Blockbuster Bowl at Miami's Joe Robbie Stadium.

The other night in a telephone conversation from Tallahassee, Amato said the tone in the Florida State camp has already been set.

"We've been telling our kids to button up those chin straps ... you're going to be playing in the most physical game you've ever played in," Amato said. "Penn State is physical with a capital P."

Amato didn't have to look at Penn State game films to tell his team that the Nittany Lions are hard hitters. "Hey, that's the reputation they've always had," he said.

Nebraska and Auburn, according to Amato, are two of the more physical teams that his team has played, but "in all due respect to those teams, I think Penn State is No. 1 in the hard-hitting department."

Just for the record, Auburn is one of two teams (intrastate rival Mi ami is the other) that have beaten Florida State this year. Nebraska wasn't on the Seminoles' schedule this year but, in last year's Fiesta Bowl, Florida State crushed the Cornhuskers 41-17.

Amato picked up on another point, a true Penn State trademark. "They've got running backs that are typical strong-legged kids with good balance," said Amato. "And they know how to run. North and South, not East and West. Joe Paterno has had that kind of kid from Day One."

You could hear Amato chuckle when he was told that Tony Sacca, the Penn State quarterback, has been almost as inconsistent as the weather. Amato hinted that that kind of inconsistency could be very dangerous.

"We know that Sacca got better with every game," said Amato. "He sure looked major league against Notre Dame ... and, against Pitt, he was running like a tailback. He can be dangerous when he gets out of the pocket. Boy, he's a big, tough kid. He showed me that he can make the big play when he has to."

Amato has no axe to grind with the Nittany Lions, although, as a native Pennsylvanian, he is looking forward to coaching against them. "I love these kind of situations," he said. "A great challenge against a great program. I welcome the opportunity."

There was a time in Amato's coaching career, when he was the defensive coordinator at his alma mater, N.C. State, that Penn State took the heart right out of Amato. In fact, Amato says, "that game might have cost me the head coaching job (at N.C. State)."

In was in 1979 that Penn State went to Raleigh to play the Wolfpack. The Lions won the game 9-7, but the way they won it was, as Amato put it, "devastating."

On the last play of the game, place kicker Herb Menhardt, kicked a 54-yard field goal that doomed N.C. State. "The ball hit the cross-bar and fell over," said Amato, all but gritting his teeth with the thought."

To this day, that 54-yarder is one yard shy of the Penn State record held by Chris Bahr.